Placido wrote:It came again yestoady and did the same thing: straight inside the cage without ruffling a single feather, enjoyed its meal, exited without fuss and away it went .Some blackbirds are still bouncing around outside the cage and can't seem to twig the secret .

Clever song thrush .

There is a small difference in the size of an adult Blackbird and a Song Thrush so I wonder if the Blackies worry about the constricted sensation they get when passing through the bars of the cage. They may worry that they wouldn't be able to escape easily if there was a danger .

I would concur absolutely (as I usually do ) with your conjecture, Jacksparrow, except that some blackbirds, both m and f, now go in and out of the cage without a second thought but some just don't seem able to get the hang of it.I reckon they're much like human beans.

We have just moved from Glos to Mid Wales close to a big pine forest, Back in Glos we could see upto 17 Goldfinches in the garden at any one time but that’s the only bird we would see, Here you can get hypnotised by the diferant breeds plus the 1000s of visits to the bird feeder, We have most days all 3 types of woodpeckers in the garden some times at the same time ,How common is this ???thanks Andy

Jay wrote:We have just moved from Glos to Mid Wales close to a big pine forest, Back in Glos we could see upto 17 Goldfinches in the garden at any one time but that’s the only bird we would see, Here you can get hypnotised by the diferant breeds plus the 1000s of visits to the bird feeder, We have most days all 3 types of woodpeckers in the garden some times at the same time ,How common is this ???thanks Andy

Very uncommon as the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is rare and illusive. whatever you're doing to attract the birds keep it going.